Sites of Favorite People

Do you use the “Saved -To Buy Later” feature on Amazon. com? Purchases I can’t quite justify or about which I’m somewhat conflicted wind up on this ever-expanding list, usually never to be resurrected.

Eventually, though, low price – $6.99 – liberated The Infinite Worlds Of H.G. Wells DVD (a three night mini-series that aired on The Hallmark Channel in 1991) from my STBL list. This was fortuitous; it’s great entertainment. A clever premise links the story lines from 6 different Wells short stories (The Crystal Egg, The New Accelerator, The Remarkable Case of Davidson’s Eyes, The Queer Story of Brownlow’s Newspaper, The Truth About Pyecraft, and The Stolen Bacillus) and weaves them together into 240 minutes of terrific, engaging, intelligent, high production value television, reminiscent at times of The Avengers, at times of Dr. Who, at times Masterpiece Theater.

Another recent purchase:

The Toon Treasury of Classic Childrens Comics is a full-color, 352 page oversize volume that presents a terrific selection of some of the best comic book stories from the 1940’s through the 1960’s by Carl Barks (Uncle Scrooge), Sheldon Mayer (Sugar and Spike), John Stanley (Little Lulu), Walt Kelly (Pogo) and George Carlson (Jingle Jangle Comics), among others.

If you’re trying to gain a sense of the massive losses incurred as a result of the massive Madoff Ponzi scheme, try this on for size: three cubic acres of money (approximately five billion quntuplatillion umptuplatillion multuplatillion impossibidillion fantasticatrillion dollars), a cash reserve once so liquid that one could “dive around in it like a porpoise,” has dried up over a course of mere days as Scrooge McDuck worked to keep cash flowing to shore up his failing empire of uncountable oil wells, gold mines, railroads, factories and fish houses.

The vast Scrooge fortune dates back to the late 1800’s and was made on the seas, and in the mines, and in the cattle wars of the old frontier. “I made it by being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties, and I made it square,” according to a word balloon positioned over the scowling face of Scrooge McDuck. The McDuck fortune has been imperiled many times in the past, including multiple hostile takeover attempts by Beagle Brothers Holdings LLC. “Hats off to Madoff,” says 176-831, adding, ” I hope Bernie likes prunes for breakfast.”

Scrooge deflected questions about the spcifics of his loss. “I’m ruined. I’m only a poor old man,” stated the fowl, leading many to wonder if Scrooge’s mental capacity had diminished.

About seventy Carl Barks fans would be surprised to know that the letters they sent to Unca Carl are up for bids on eBay.

What else might they experience? Pleasure that Carl kept them? Outrage that they’re now for sale to the highest bidder?

A bigger question: who might possibly be interested in buying these? A marketer eager to get 70 name and address leads? No, too old.

A blackmailer might be able to create some sort of return on them, however, by selling individual letters back to the people who wrote them. Why they might want them back is also a question; but if I were the guy who sent Mr. Barks a picture of myself dumping coins on my head ala’ Uncle Scrooge’s ‘Money Baths’ (tiny, blurry detail at right) – and I’m not – I might think about a better-safe-than-sorry buyback.

The implication of this estate auction is clear: put everything up for sale. Would it give you a warm glow to know that those ugly Hummels now despoiling the artistic sensibility of your home once did the same thing at the Barks residence? How about a ripped and dirty artist’s smockthat pre-dates the invention of the zip code? Hey, forget that, how about some used paint brushes? Would you like a roll of original Barks toilet paper? Since the ‘dust bunnies’ that collected in the corners of the Barks Studio are not listed here, I’m guessing they were sold to a private collector prior to the public auction.

Isn’t Life Terrible?

"Isn't Life Terrible" is a Charley Chase short from 1925. The title was derived from a 1924 D.W. Griffith film, "Isn't Life Wonderful?" Other Charley Chase film titles that ask questions are "What Price Goofy?" (1925), "Are Brunettes Safe?" (1927), and "Is Everybody Happy?" (1928). Chase abandoned his titles with question marks for titles with exclamation points during the sound era.
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